Piper of Dreams
by Rainbow Daydreamer
Summary: Ricky and his sister have always been close. But now, like everyone else, she's being carried away... by a dream. And Ricky is the one left behind.
1. A Song For Loneliness

**Piper of Dreams**

I don't own Neopets.

This story takes place after my still incomplete series "In This Together" and involves the little Gelert from that fic, but you don't need to have read it-- or, indeed, any of my work-- to understand "Piper of Dreams". I'd love feedback on this, as I'm hoping it will be a 'Times story some day.

* * *

**Chapter I:**

**Melody**

* * *

_They said, much later, that a young homeless Aisha had been the first to go._

_She was a green Aisha, not much more than a kitten, and with huge emerald eyes that had long ago ceased to see the use of crying. No-one knew why she'd been out alone on such a cold night, with neither an owner for shelter, nor a sibling for love, nor any toy or petpet to cling to for comfort. Perhaps she'd run away from home; perhaps she'd been thrown out. Perhaps she was so small that no-one saw her and thought to take her to the Adoption Centre—which, although bleak, would at least have been protection from the elements. At any rate, she was young enough, or unlucky enough, or maybe ill enough not to remember her own name._

_Her paws left soft imprints in the snow that covered the streets of Neopia Central. She only made a sound when she spotted some morsel of food half-frozen on the ground: a sandwich or candy twist that some more fortunate Neopet had dropped and not thought to pick up, or a discarded slice of omelette. Then she would mew in unexpected delight, the sound barely audible, and run to pick up her latest find. What she craved most she had no hope of finding; instinctively she made the most of all she discovered._

_As she searched the streets this way, she paid no attention to the sound of music on the snow-swirling wind. What was it to her if an eerie melody was floating toward her, making her bedraggled ears twitch? A handful of spine-tingling notes was not going to shelter her from the wind, or help her to find her next meal…_

_And yet, even as that thought crossed her mind, she looked up from her contemplation of the snow. To her surprise, she saw a house ahead of her which looked quite wrong for this part of town; an elegant, sumptuous three-storey mansion, with lights blazing from the windows and the sounds of clinking glasses, the notes of a piano, a roaring fire, reaching her through the open door. Who would leave their door open and unattended like that? The kit lifted her head and smelt the odour of hot chicken and spices, something she would never have even dreamed about on the street. The piano played a melody that seemed to touch her half-frozen heart, drawing her ever-closer._

_Abruptly, she reached a decision. One look inside wouldn't hurt, since the door was open anyway. She wouldn't touch the chicken, or come near the piano. Just one quick look. They couldn't possibly be angry at her for that. She pulled her frail body up onto the step and padded towards the glow._

_No-one noticed her absence that frosty night, any more than they had her presence. Nevertheless, she was the first._

_There would be others._

..--...

Rickaira the Gelert stretched and yawned. He'd slept until late in the morning, and now the pale winter sunlight was shining on his furry form as he lay in bed. Today was a Saturday; no Neoschool, only relaxation and play. He heard a soft crooning noise, and realised that his sister's Alkenore was curled at the end of his bed, enjoying the warmth just as he was. Ricky sighed in contentment.

He remembered the bad dream that had woken him at three in the morning last night, the one about the Aisha in the snow. His sister had calmed him down as she always did, stroking his head with her delicate lavender-coloured paw, until he fell asleep again. The dream had not returned that night, and Ricky was glad of it.

"Sis? Are you awake?" he called, swinging his paws down from the bed. The fluttering of wings downstairs confirmed that his sister was, indeed, up and about.

The Gelert looked out of his window at the snow. A cloud hovered to the west, suggesting more was to come. He wondered if his sister would have to go on a shopping trip today, and whether he could persuade her to stay home. He'd heard that the snowstorms were getting worse.

As he caught sight of a long-eared, four-pawed figure outside, he froze in panic. Then his heartbeat slowed as he realised it was a pretty Cloud Aisha, obviously on her way to the Clothes Shop to buy a new scarf and mittens—not the lonely, unhappy creature of his nightmares.

Ricky shivered. Why was a simple dream causing him such pain?

...---...

_Lila Starr, a royalgirl Acara, was bored. She sat on a bench in Neopia Central's most beautiful park, watching the snow fall. Already snowflakes were catching in her elegant veil and silver-beaded necklace._

_A few feet away from her, a green Kacheek and a pink Yurble were playing together, building a model Elephante with its own snow petpet, and a worn red scarf tied on for the trunk. They laughed together, occasionally pausing to hurl a hastily made snowball. Lila watched the happy, carefree siblings with mounting sadness. Tears stung her pretty, dark eyes. Because Lila was lonely._

_Again and again, she'd pleaded for a sibling. Again and again her owner, a stockmarket Neomillionaire who loved her like a daughter, had told her no. "There's too many pets in Neopia already without my creating another," he'd sighed. "And I couldn't afford to give another pet everything you've got. There'd only be jealousy between the two of you."_

_It was deeply ironic, Lila thought. Her owner worked hard to give her everything she could ever want: jewellery, toys, battledome weapons, grooming items, petpets, clothes. She lived in a house that was more like a palace, in a room that thousands of Neopets could only imagine. Her stats were impossibly high and her intelligence well above average. But the one thing that her heart desired, she couldn't have. Lila Starr would always be an only pet._

_Brushing away the angry tears, she looked back at the two Neopets. But they were no longer there. In their place, an Aisha was standing._

_She was a tiny Neopet; not painted, or groomed, or even particularly beautiful. But in that moment, Lila felt that the Aisha was waiting for _her_, Lila Starr Acara, to be her sister and best friend. She would be loyal, loving, sensitive, playful, a sibling to be treasured for life. And Lila's owner could not possibly say no this time._

_Jumping to her paws, Lila ran towards the Aisha, who moved shyly away so that the Acara had no choice but to follow…_

_...---..._

Ricky sat at his typewriter. In Neoschool he was not the keenest of writers, but this was something different; a letter to his penfriend.

_Dear Novella,_

_Has the snow fallen in Meridell? Here, the whole city is covered in it. Sis went out to fetch the groceries earlier and she had to wear her scarf and pawboots .I'm not going to be such a fool as to go out there today .It's pretty to look at when you're on the right side of a window, i.e. the inside._

_Anyway, Sis came back with some odd news…._

"A young man named Jake Hauser says he's lost his girl Acara."

The Faerie Bori flopped onto the couch, shaking snow out of her wings. The shopping bags lay on the floor where she'd dropped them, spilling groceries, magazines and petpet-food.

"Lost his Acara?" Ricky asked, scratching his ear with a hind paw. "You mean someone stole her while he was moving house? Or maybe she turned invisible?"

"No, I mean _lost_," his sister clarified. "She just vanished. He checked the census, but she's still Royalgirl, and down as belonging to him. Nobody's seen her, though."

"Well? Maybe she ran away," Ricky shrugged, but his sister shook her head.

"Didn't you hear about the emergency measures? In this weather, they've got checkpoints on all the main roads for any Neopet that's going on a journey, so that if they don't check through one a search can be mounted—and none of them recall a royal Acara. And she had no reason to run away. She was one of the happiest pets in the city, he says, and there was no problem between her and Jake…"

Ricky gazed at her in unhappy contemplation. He remembered how he had once helped his penfriend, a white Ixi, to run away from home. But that had been for a real, important reason, not the whim of a spoilt Royalgirl Acara. "So what's this Jake Hauser going to do?"

"He's sticking up notices all over this quarter of Neopia Central. That's how I met him at the bakery," she replied, flicking the last melting snowflakes from her fur. "The Patrol Pterii have been told, but I don't think they have any more idea what to do than he does."

Ricky nodded. "Well, I'll tell all my friends to look out for her, if she's still missing by Monday."

"If school isn't cancelled." The Bori girl sighed. "Darn these snowstorms…" Suddenly she frowned. "Ricky, I declare, I forgot the treacle. You couldn't dive out and get some while I make dinner, could you? Only I can't make ginger crunch cookies without treacle, and I thought we'd make some for the neighbours this afternoon."

"Crunch cookies?" Ricky considered. "Well, I s'pose that's worth going out for. Get me my boots and scarf…"

...---...

"_Snow Faerie. Huh! Doesn't mean I have to _like_ this weather."_

_Taelia shovelled another scoop of snow away from her doorway. The magical heat of the shovel turned the snow it touched into cold water, but more was falling even as she worked. She didn't dare stop for a meal, or even a mug of tea. She couldn't know when some Neopet would call at her door, seeking her advice or shelter from the cold._

"_Taelia!"_

_A voice distracted her from her thoughts. A young Light Faerie was fluttering up the path, calling her name._

"_Taelia! Taels! I've got news for you."_

_Taelia put aside her shovel, smiling. "What is it, Miranette?"_

"_Fyora wants you, as soon as possible! You have to have your portrait redrawn!"_

"_My portrait?" Taelia was confused. "What do you need that for?"_

"_Are you ready for this, Taels?" Miranette giggled. "You're going to be written into the Book of Heroes! Can you believe it?"_

"_Me?" She was unable to speak for a moment. "Me, a Hero of Neopia? There's got to be some mistake."_

"_No mistake." The Light Faerie laughed again, her high, good-natured chuckle sounding almost musical. "Come on, Taels. Don't worry about this place. Fyora is sending someone to keep house while you're away."_

"_Well, if that's how it is…" Taelia murmured a quick spell to lock the door, then spread her wings to follow Miranette. "Hope I'm not too late."_

_The two figures drifted into the distance, leaving Terror Mountain behind._

...---...

"Closed? Awww, man."

Ricky kicked the shop door with his forepaw, as if that would magically cause it to open. "I come all the way out here and the shop is closed. At twelve o'clock! What's with that?"

Picking up his sister's shopping basket, he set off on the journey home. "And that means no ginger cookies, either. How much worse is this day going to get?"

The smell of scorched sausages reached the little Gelert's nose as he walked. Perhaps his sister wouldn't mind very much if he spent the money on a hot-dog instead. After all, he was hungry, and lunch wouldn't be ready for a while.

To his annoyance, the hot dog stand was deserted. Hubert was nowhere to be seen. But a single sausage lay in the pan that still sizzled on the cart; burning as he watched, it was rapidly turning an ashy black. After a moment's thought, Ricky snatched the sausage out of the pan and chewed it happily. After all, Hubert wouldn't be very pleased to find a charred hot dog stuck to the pan when he returned.

"Sis, the shop was closed," Ricky called, padding into the house. "Sis?"

There was no reply. Ricky threw down the basket and ran into the kitchen. "Sis? What's up?"

A set of dishes and spoons lay on the kitchen bench. Ricky's sister had evidently started making dinner, but got no further than the very start of the recipe. Now, she was sitting in the middle of the floor, a piece of paper clutched in her paw.

"Sis? What's that you've got?"

She looked up, apparently noticing him for the first time. "Oh, Ricky! I didn't see you there." Her eyes were alight with happiness as she pointed at the paper. "You've got to hear this!"

"What?" Ricky pulled back a chair, annoyed by the lack of food.

"I got a letter from…" She paused. "Oh, you won't remember her, Ricky. A very important Lupe. She used to be the leader of a- a society I was in… Then we had… a disagreement and I had to leave." Her smile returned, lighting up the room. "But now she's written me a letter! She says she was wrong to condemn me and _she wants me back!_"

"That's fabulous, Sis!" Ricky slapped his sister on the back with one paw.

"So… I've got to go!" The Bori leapt into action, picking up her bag from its hook on the wall. "Ricky, fetch me some Neopoints. And a fur brush. And some fur gel. And a ribbon for my ears. And my Alkenore. And…"

"Sis, you can't go out now! You haven't made dinner." Ricky looked at her in alarm. "We were going to have soup! And crackers and neowaiian bread and chocolate pudding afterwards and anyway how long are you going to be gone?"

"I don't know." She shrugged dreamily. "Maybe a few days? A week?"

"A _week? _Sis, what are you saying? Who's going to take me to school? Who's going to make dinner while you're gone?" The young Gelert was pacing the floor in anxiousness now. "Who'll answer the mail and feed the Petpets and write angry letters about beauty contests to the _Times_?"

"I'm sure you can sort all of that out." Now she was packing the last few items into her satchel and hooking the strap around her neck. "Don't make such a fuss, Ricky. You know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Pausing only to brush a huge amount of lilac blush over the distinctive bright-blue smudges on her fur, she flew to the door. "See you, Ricky!" Then she was gone, sailing out into the falling snow without a cloak as if it was the brightest of summer's days.

"Sis?" Ricky realised there was no use in calling after her, and slammed the door with a sigh. He had never known his sister to be so thoughtless and impulsive. _Was she like that before I was born? _he mused. _Maybe I've never known how childish she can be._

He noticed the letter, still lying on the kitchen table. Maybe if he read it, he would at least get an idea where she was going— for she'd even neglected to tell him that detail before flying off in her happy daze. Picking the paper up in one paw, he began to read.

_To The Occupier:_

_Your payment for this month is now due. Please make cheques payable to I. M. A. Shark, or deposit the required amount of –5000NP— directly into the National Neopian account held in the company's name._

_If you wish not to continue with our services, please Neomail at the earliest opportunity quoting reference number SHRK-10-250._

_Yours faithfully,_

_Isadore Maxwell Armstrong Shark_

_President, Sharky Insurance_

Unsure that what he'd read could be real, Ricky read the simple letter twice more. When he was certain of the message's content, he scrutinised it more carefully, searching for any evidence of a possible code or a hidden meaning. He could see none.

The letter was an insurance payment demand. Nothing more.

Pulling his scarf from its hook, Ricky rushed to the door and out in the snow.

"Sis? _Sis?_"

There was no reply. Only, from somewhere far away, an echo of a melody.


	2. A Song For Winter

**Piper of Dreams**

**Part II**

_Dream don't own Neopets._**  
**

* * *

On a day when every right-thinking Neopet should have been indoors, a little Gelert was pushing his way through the deep snow, struggling to keep his nose above the drifts.

Ricky wandered Neopia Central as best he could, hoping for a glimpse of his sister's paws and wings above his head. All he found were empty market stalls and emptier streets, whichever way he turned.

"C'mon, Sis," he murmured. "Come back and tell me the proper explanation for all this."

There had to be an explanation, he knew. Some little thing that would cause her behaviour to make sense at once. Try as he might, Ricky couldn't face the other possibility.

_His sister had lied to him._

It was impossible. He'd seen her trying to pull off even the simplest of white lies, like convincing a door-to-door salespet that she already had a Petpet play tunnel. The thought that she might lie so openly to her own brother was nothing short of unbelievable.

His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he still hadn't had any dinner. He glanced at the small leather bag he'd tied to his collar. There would be enough Neopoints in there for several meals, if he needed them, but he realised that they might well be spent by the time his sister returned.

Turning sharply, he set off in a different direction. There was one Faerie who simply had to be working in this weather.

---...---

"No, sweetie, I haven't seen your sister. Who knows? Maybe she went on an adventure of her own."

The Soup Faerie ruffled Ricky's fur. He lapped his bowl of soup in silence, annoyed at being treated so much like a pup.

A sudden shadow crossed the Faerie's face as she considered. "She wasn't having any arguments with your owner?" she asked carefully.

"We don't live with an owner. Sis is old enough to take care of me by herself."

"Thank goodness," the Soup Faerie sighed. "No, I don't mean it's good not to have an owner, but… well, sometimes when a pet goes missing they're running away from conflict. But it sounds like you and your sister get along fine, little Gelert."

"We do." Ricky sniffed angrily to prevent a tear from sliding down his muzzle. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bother you. I just wanted some soup."

"That's all right." Picking up his bowl, the Faerie refilled it with steaming hot broth and set it in front of him again. "You're one of my only customers today. I guess the snow is keeping everyone at home."

Ricky drank the soup, taking comfort in its warmth. "You'd think they'd want more in this weather. Are you still going to work, though?"

"Of course." Her smile was still as bright as ever. "I've got an important job to do. I can't just close up because I'm getting fewer customers."

"Thanks for the soup." Ricky wrapped his scarf around his shoulders. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, if I haven't found Sis by then."

Jumping down from his seat, he left the little shop, carefully closing the door behind him as he went. The Faerie stood looking through the glass for a moment, but there seemed no sign of any other customers. With a sigh, she went back to her recipe book, flicking through the well-worn pages to try and find a new treat for the next Neopet to come her way.

A knock at her door distracted her. "Come in!" she called. "I've got some fresh soup still hot."

The door opened, revealing not a Neopet in need of food, but a smart-looking Lenny dressed in a green suit. He glanced around, looking the Soup Faerie up and down.

"I'm sorry," the Faerie began automatically, "but I can't let you dine here unless you have fewer than 3000 Neopoints…"

"That's all right. I'm not after any soup." The Lenny smiled. "Ma'am, I'm from the Money Tree Charitable Association. We've been reviewing your work for the past two months and I think you'll agree when we say that the financial allowance you get is desperately inadequate."

"What? …Oh!... Well, I don't know…" The Faerie stuttered, taken by surprise. "I guess I manage all right…"

"Nonsense. We're all agreed that you deserve far more for the work you do." The Lenny pushed the door open, gesturing for her to follow. "If you'll come down to the charity headquarters, we'll see about depositing some money in your National Neopian account."

"I… I don't know what to say." Setting down her soup ladle, the Faerie followed her benefactor out of the kitchen. "Thank you. Thank you so much…"

"Don't mention it, ma'am. Now come along and we'll get the funds processed."

---...---

As Ricky walked away from the marketplace, his mind troubled by thoughts of missing sisters and vanishing Neomail, something large and furry bumped against him, knocking the little Gelert off his paws. Landing in the middle of a snowdrift, Ricky gasped for breath. "What…?"

The Cybunny who had knocked him over didn't even stop to apologise. Appearing not to notice him, she walked on carelessly, her flimsy blouse flapping in the wind. _She must be cold,_ Ricky reflected. Forgetting that she'd caused him to fall into a snowdrift a moment earlier, he ran up to the stranger. "Excuse me, Miss. Um… would you like to borrow my scarf? I can wear my sister's."

She ignored him, continuing to walk with a dreamy smile on her face.

"Some Neopets!" Ricky kicked up a flurry of snow to vent his frustration. "Bet she's some kind of snob… doesn't want to talk to an ordinary Gelert. Sis said she knew a lot of Neopets like that once." Leaving the Cybunny to her reverie, he made his way into the centre of town, where the streets had been swept clear of snow. More flakes were already falling, but for now, the familiar cobbles felt pleasantly warm on Ricky's half-frozen paws.

_I don't even know whether Sis is in Neopia Central,_ he thought. _Fyora knows where she's got to. _With a sigh, he walked on.

A few seconds later, he stopped in his tracks. _That was it! _

The Faerie Queen had lived longer than any Neopet Ricky had ever heard of. He wouldn't be surprised if she knew everything there was to be known. _Fyora knows, _people said all the time, when they wanted to exaggerate. Perhaps she would know where his sister had lived, before he was born. Perhaps she could help him.

Ricky didn't have wings, but he knew that Eyries could fly to Faerieland. If he paid one of them, he could ride as far as the cloudworld border. Breaking into a run, he headed for the main square.

---...---

"…_Buy… Sell… Buy… Sell…"_

_Dressed in pin-striped pyjamas and a nightcap, the Chia lay in bed, murmuring in his dreams. "Sell. No, wait for it to go higher. Sell!"_

"_Oi, Nigel!" The shout echoed up from outside. "Wake up!"_

"_Whassamatter?" Nigel rubbed his eyes with two chubby fists, not really wanting to get out of bed. "Leavemealone."_

"_Wake up!" The voice, giggly and cheerful, was insistent. "Come and see your Toy Car!"_

_Nigel sat bolt upright in bed. Since a kindly Faerie had cast a Supersize enchantment on it all those years ago, the giant-sized, red-painted Toy Car had been his pride and joy, the one thing he'd never part with for any profit. "My Car? What have you done to my Car?"_

_Looking out of the window, he saw a Faerie Moehog resting her hooves on the bonnet of the Car, grinning madly. "Get off!" he yelled. "You'll chip the paint with those hooves of yours, girl! I don't pay you to mess up my possessions!"_

"_I didn't mess it up," she beamed. "I asked Illusen really, really nicely. And she gave me a spell to cast on it!"_

"_A spell?" Nigel threw a jacket over his pyjamas and hurried downstairs, still shouting to the junior accountant. "What kind of a spell, you incompetent lunatic?"_

"_You'll never guess." The Moehog waved a hoof. "Are you ready for this?"_

"_Just tell me!"_

"_You're going to love this." She smiled. "It moves by magic, now. You don't need to pedal it at all. The spell will keep it going by itself."_

_Nigel was speechless. He hurried out onto the snow-covered drive, staring at the Toy Car with a kind of childish wonder. "It goes by itself… I've got to try this!"_

_The accountant Moehog swung herself into the body of the car, which began to drift along gently as Nigel watched, as if pushed by the wind. "You'll have to catch up with me first!" she yelled, laughing._

_In a better humour than he'd been for many months, the Chia followed his beloved toy, humming the tune of a song that seemed to have sprung into his head, unbidden._

_---...--- _

The water in the Rainbow Pool was frozen solid. Ricky gazed at it in fascination, intrigued by the icy swirls of colour.

The main square seemed as deserted as the rest of Neopia Central. Sitting on the steps of the Art Catacomb entrance, Ricky listened for any sound of approaching wings.

_I have to get to Faerieland and find Queen Fyora. Then she can find Sis. I don't care if it takes all day. Only please, don't let me freeze my paws off waiting…_

All at once, a sound echoed through the empty square. Not wingbeats, but something almost as good: pawsteps. Ricky sat bolt upright. Paws could mean an Eyrie, after all.

A young Lupe, his fur scruffy and tangled, bounded around the corner and straight past the place where Ricky was sitting. The next minute, he was followed by a Grundo, running as fast as its white feet could carry it. Eyes fixed on something in the distance, the Grundo waddled away.

"Huh?" Ricky glanced after them. "Where are you going? What…"

The next minute, he was surrounded by Neopets.

The square erupted with a tide of yellow, red, blue and green. Dozens of Neopets pushed past Ricky, seeming not to notice the confused Gelert as they made their way across the centre of town. All of them, without exchanging a word, headed in the same direction, past the Rainbow Pool and to the north of the town.

As Ricky struggled to free himself from the mass of running pets, a voice rang out from somewhere behind them. "That's _enough! _Get back here this instant before I have to drag you!"

A Pink Uni and a Techo in a white lab coat rounded the corner, followed closely by a young Wocky carrying a bundle of cloth. The Techo glared furiously at the crowd of pets. "I don't know what's got into you, but you had better stop it before the Defenders of Neopia hear about this!"

In response, the pets only moved faster, carrying the helpless Ricky with them. Their swift pace soon left the Techo behind; the Uni, running on all fours, managed to keep up for longer. Eventually, though, her hoof slipped on a patch of ice and she could only watch as the gap grew between them.

Ricky shoved desperately at the Neopets around him, unable to escape the sea of fur and feathers. A Zafara's elbow caught him in the eye, forcing him to close it in pain. Through the other eye, he managed to catch sight of the Wocky, riding a home-made scooter a short distance behind the pack. "Help me…" he gasped.

The Wocky steered the scooter with one forepaw, swinging the other out in a wide arc. "All right, you had your chance," she shouted. "Now you're coming back, whether you like it or not."

The bundle in her paw expanded, shimmering in the light as it unfolded. Now Ricky could see what it was: an enormous net.

In front of him, pets tripped and stumbled. The silence gave way to a chaotic muddle of cries and growls as the net closed on the Neopets.

"OK. Let's get you lot home."

Barely managing to breathe among the fallen pets, Ricky waited for the lurching movement of the net to stop. Eventually, he heard a door slam shut behind him, and felt a pair of clawed hands lift his exhausted body out of the net. He breathed a sigh of relief as, for the first time, his paws touched solid ground.

"Shhh, now. No more trying to escape. You've been one bad Gelert."

_Trying to escape?_

Ricky opened his eyes, just in time to see a wire door being closed in front of him. The Wocky was already padding away, carrying the key in her mouth.

"No… wait…" His voice faded away, echoing uselessly off the walls of his unfamiliar prison. Bruised and weary, Ricky collapsed into sleep, and dreams of his sister.


	3. A Song For Friendship

**Piper of Dreams**

**Part III**

* * *

"_Wishes for blessings… press interviews… Shantra, is there _any _real mail amongst all this?"_

_The Faerie Queen sighed, placing the latest batch of letters on the marble table beside her throne. It was the sort of day when her life was more administration than glamour; letters to answer, pets to bless, Times reporters to put off, council meetings to chair. Sometimes, she wished—ironically—for a little bit of magic to liven up her ordinary days._

"_I'll read the rest of it for you, Your Majesty. Is there anything you would like me to fetch you?"_

"_Just a glass of Tchea juice," Fyora nodded, grateful for Shantra's help. The young Dark Faerie was an invaluable servant at the Faerieland court._

"_Okay. I'll fetch that right now." Shantra put down the mail and headed for the door. "I won't be a minute, Your Majesty."_

_Fyora watched as her sprite-in-waiting disappeared down the stairs. Of course, she could have summoned the glass and poured the drink by magic if she'd wished, but the risk of spilling it in a moment of distraction was one she'd rather not take. Neopia's supreme ruler, not using magic. She wondered with a kind of amusement what the average Neopet would think of that idea._

_Suddenly, Shantra appeared again, seemingly out of breath and without her familiar tray. "Fyora!"_

"_What is it?" Fyora asked kindly, ignoring the maid's impolite use of her first name. "Are the kitchens out of Tchea juice? I'll be happy to have melon instead."_

"_No, it's not that." Shantra looked alight with excitement. "I met a messenger on his way up. The Council think they've spotted an elementless Faerie… a kid with enormous magical talent. You know what that means, Your Majesty!"_

_Fyora knew it indeed. One of the traditional tasks of a Faerie Queen had always been to train a successor, a young Faerie who would take on the royal responsibilities if the present Queen were to retire. However, until now, there had been no suitable candidate. As Fyora considered the implications of the finding, a shiver of excitement ran down her spine._

"_Forget the Tchea juice," she told Shantra. "Take me to see this elementless girl. Now."_

_ 000_

"Miss Rosie? Dr. Death? Is _anybody _here but me?"

The plaintive voice outside his door woke Ricky from his sleep. Opening his eyes slowly, he whimpered softly at the sight of the barred door that still kept him prisoner. He looked for the source of the voice, but saw only rows upon rows of closed rooms, just like the one he had been given. To his right, he saw an Elephante through the wire window; to his left, a Kau. Every room held a pet, most of them staring intently at the door.

With a cold shudder, Ricky realised where he must be. Though he'd never experienced this life himself, he'd heard other pets' tales. The Wocky must have mistaken him for a pet without an owner, and brought him to be adopted.

"Excuse me? I think there must be some…" He tried to make his own voice heard, but no-one seemed to be listening.

Suddenly, there was a sharp click from the room to the right. The door opened, releasing the Elephante into the corridor. A moment later, the Kau achieved a similar result. Locks began clicking all around him, opening one by one.

Ricky began to examine his own lock, but there seemed no obvious way of opening it from the inside. He sensed that the pets in the corridor would be in no hurry to help him.

As he watched, the escapees filed quietly along the passageway and towards a large open window, where they began to climb to safety, still forming an orderly line. Ricky could only stare as the last pet clambered calmly through the window.

The next moment, the Wocky he had seen before came dashing into the room. "What's going on? What… _oh, no…_They've gone again!"

"I'm sorry." Ricky looked out at her. "They all seemed to figure out some way of opening the locks on the doors."

"Yep. Again." The Wocky adjusted her enormous goggles, and glanced at him in surprise. "Wait, you're not one of the staff. You're a resident! Why didn't you leave like the rest?"

"I'm _not _a resident." Ricky sighed. "I was looking for my sister when I got caught in that net of yours."

"Eek! I'm sorry!" The Wocky clapped her forepaw to her mouth, horrified at her mistake. "Here, I'll let you out. I really didn't mean for anything like that to happen."

Over a mug of coffee at the front desk, the Wocky explained the situation. "I'm just a part-timer here. Normally all we'd have to deal with is maybe one breakout attempt a week." She took a swig from her mug and continued. "But today, for some reason, every pet in the Adoption Centre is trying to escape. And not in the normal berserk kind of way, either. They're all so…"

"Determined?" Ricky recalled the faces of the pets that had almost trampled him. "Serene?"

"Yep. And what puts the icing on the cake, _all_ the other staff have picked today to go AWOL. All at once! Can you believe that?"

"My sister's missing too," Ricky muttered, his good mood vanishing again.

"Oh well." She gave him a bright smile. "Since there doesn't seem much chance of getting the pound pets to stay put today, I guess I can come and help you look. How does that sound?"

"Best thing I've heard all day." The Gelert managed a grin. "I'm Rickaira Fortune, by the way. Everyone calls me Ricky, though."

"Chelska Darling," she replied. "Don't laugh. It really is my name."

"I wasn't about to."

He left the cup of bitter coffee on the desk, thinking wistfully of his sister's hot chocolate as they departed from the empty Pound.

000

_"Sweetie? You doing all right in there?"_

_The little Kougra looked up from her homework. Lori's head was poking through from the other room, a concerned expression on her face._

_"She oughta be home by now," was all she said._

_"Honey, you know she'll be home soon. She probably went over to see a friend, or perhaps she was kept late after school. Your sister can take care of herself. She is sixteen, you know."_

_"Mmmm." One golden paw scratched out the latest wrong answer, and the Kougra threw back her head in a wail of frustration. "Oh, I can't do this, Lori!"_

_"Well, you just keep trying and I'll fix some iced lemint tea." Her owner disappeared into the backroom again._

_Suddenly, there was a noise of wings outside. The next minute, the door was flung open. "Come here!" the Faerie Cybunny outside gasped. "Quick!"_

_"What is it?" Bounding up the stairs, the Kougra nearly knocked into her sister. The Cybunny pulled away just in time._

_"My schoolfriend, Jenise, she's flying to Neopia Central tonight. She wanted to know if you would come! She says there's snow there at the moment!"_

_"Snow?" The word provoked only puzzlement from a lifelong Sakhmetian. "What's that?"_

_"It's like rain, only colder, Jenise says. And the prettiest thing she's ever seen."_

_Now the little girl was excited. "Hang on! I'll just tell Lori where I'm going."_

_"No time for that!" The Cybunny stood neatly between her and the door. "Jenise is going right now. It's OK, I'll tell Lori after I've seen you off."_

_In the little room beneath the Sakhmetian streets, a human girl paused in confusion, wondering where her Neopet had gone. Shrugging, she set the ice-cold glass on the table next to the unfinished maths homework, and waited._

_000 _

"I suppose you didn't bring any mittens?" Chelska yelled as the latest flurry of snow blew into her face. Ricky waved his scarf at her, but she shook her head in refusal.

After almost an hour of wandering around a phantom Neopia Central, the pair had finally found an Eyrie that was willing to take them to Faerieland. In a few moments, they would take off from one of Neopia's tallest buildings, the National Bank.

"Are you sure you don't need any payment for this?" Ricky asked the Eyrie's owner in concern. The boy grinned, shaking his head.

"Anyone who agrees to flying anywhere with me and Helly deserves to be paid themselves, as far as I'm concerned. Now hold on tight."

Ricky and Chelska didn't have time to ponder the meaning of this ominous advice. With a flapping of wings and a determined squawk, Helly launched herself off the roof and out into the swirling winds.

"Helly, watch it! We've got passengers, please remember."

"What's wrong?" The Eyrie gave a lopsided smile. "I haven't even hit anything yet."

Clinging tightly to Helly's wings, Ricky and Chelska rose into the snowstorm.

000

_In a little office just outside the Neopian government headquarters, a young woman was working, reading manuscript after manuscript as they arrived on her desk. Hundreds of aspiring writers had contacted her this week, and it was her job to ascertain whether any of them was good enough for the Neopian Times._

_With a sigh, she crumpled the latest submission—a Kacheek's long and tedious poem about a picnic taken in the park. "It was never like this for the last editor," she complained aloud. "Where have all the talented writers gone?"_

_She turned, resignedly, to the next sheet and began to read._

_Within moments, her bad mood had evaporated, to be replaced with a kind of wondering amazement. What was before her was, quite simply, the best story she had ever had to edit: a tale of space invaders, talented pets, loyalty, love, and a beautiful girl destined to save the world, written with such style and elegance that it gripped her from the very start._

_A few minutes ago she'd been waiting to go home. Time seemed irrelevant, now. As she read the final page, after almost two dozen chapters of mystery and wonder, tears came to her eyes. This story was perfect._

_Carefully lifting the manuscript, she turned to put it into the Times "in-tray" that stood beside her. Suddenly, she noticed one small detail._

_There was no name on the manuscript._

_"I can't publish this without knowing who wrote it!" the editor near-sobbed, collapsing into her chair._

_"That one? Oh, I know who wrote that." A young Lenny stood in the doorway. "Don't know her name, but she's my neighbour. Saw her posting it yesterday."_

_"Take me there!" Jumping up, the Times editor ran to him. "Show me where she lives. I'll ask her name for the next edition."_

_The door slammed behind her as she hurried away._

_ 000_

"That way, you stupid Eyrie! That way!"

The landscape was a cloudscape.

Pink and blue wisps surrounded everything, like a confusion of dreams. Above them, a tower loomed in the distance, shining as though it was made from rose-coloured glass.

"Faerieland," Jordan announced dizzily, practically diving off Helly's back into the nearest cloud. "Please keep your arms and legs on the psychotic Eyrie until landing."

Contrary to Ricky's expectations, the air was clearer up here, though still bitingly cold. The realm of the Faeries was so high that only a few flurries of snow were breaking through the clouds.

"Stick around for us," Chelska told the pair. "We're going to find Fyora."

Although neither pet had been to Faerieland before, they had imagined that it would be filled with pets and faeries, joyfully swooping among the clouds and playing games. Instead, the silence was eerie. Not a single wingbeat broke the quiet of the cloudplain as the Gelert and Wocky walked towards Faerie City.

"So silent." Ricky stared around. "Where d'you reckon everyone is? I wouldn't have thought the cold would bother them, up here."

Even the shining walls of Faerie City held nothing but empty streets and the occasional fluttering Petpet. Chelska bounded over to the Rainbow Fountain, a mischievous grin on her face. "Here, if we can figure out how to work this thing I could get a free paint job. Faerie doesn't seem to be around."

Ricky sighed, and carried on walking towards Fyora's castle. "They say she's often to be found in the invisible tower attached to the building," he reflected. "How are we supposed to find that?"

"Run very fast and see if we bump into anything?"

"_Chelska!_"

Instead, the two pets respectfully pushed open the door leading to that part of the castle they _could _see. The lilac-coloured walls seemed to glow with reflected light as they crossed the enormous hall to the staircase.

Chelska adjusted her huge goggles to squint at the doors. "One of these must lead to Fyora. Shouldn't there be guards and things, anyhow? I may have Blurry Vision, but I should be able to see the usual kind of staff people keep around."

She was right, Ricky had to admit. Even his own house in Neopia Central had a security lamp fixed to the wall outside, waiting to shine on any intruders. This castle, for all its riches, had no security at all. The doors were unlocked, the stairs deserted.

"I don't like this." Chelska's former cheeriness had given way to a strange nervousness as her voice echoed in the empty corridor.

"Nor me. But Fyora must be in here somewhere."

Opening a heavy frosted-glass door, he gasped for a moment as he looked out into empty air. At first, he thought he'd run across a turret under repair; then, as he noticed the warmth still spilling through the doorway and the absence of swirling snow, he realised. What he was seeing was a transparishield corridor.

"Chelska, this way," he called, padding softly across the clear floor. "It's got to be."

"Oops…" Chelska clung to the doorway, not wanting to follow. "Don't look down, Ricks…"

Ignoring the frightened Wocky, Ricky ran the last few steps to the door. On the other side, as he'd expected, was a transparishield room filled with clear glass shelves. Everlasting apples, plushies of Jeran, and battledome weapons seemed at first sight to be suspended in mid-air.

"Well, this is it, all right," he said aloud. "Fyora? Queen Fyora?"

There was no reply. Looking around, Ricky saw a deserted throne, with a stack of unopened letters still lying next to it.

The sound of pawsteps outside made him look up, but it was only Chelska, edging her way along the corridor with her goggles hanging around her neck. "I don't get so scared if I can't see," she explained, turning to face him. "Anyhow, I've just been down to the kitchens looking for a drink of water. Not a single servant in sight. And someone had even left the tap running."

"Fyora's gone too."

The two of them regarded each other for a moment, trying to find a way out of their unhappy confusion. Then Chelska shrugged.

"Well, they must've gone _somewhere. _People don't just disappear, and I doubt there's that many Invisible Paintbrushes in the world."

"You're right." Ricky managed a smile. "So all we have to do is find them."

"Oh, no." Chelska pulled a face. "Tell me I don't have to walk across that corridor again."

"I'll hold your goggles."

000

_"Wheeeee!" _

_Jordan ducked, wincing, as the blur of yellow fur and feathers shot overhead in the umpteenth skewed loop-the-loop. "Helly. HELLY! For goodness' sake make yourself useful and go buy me something to eat. And walk, _please. _I don't want to pay for the damages."_

_Helly flapped enthusiastically into the distance, and her owner collapsed against a fluffy cloud. "Sheesh. Why, oh why did she have to have wings?"_

_A small flurry of snow showered down on his head, making him scowl up at the sky. "And you can't even escape the weather above the clouds. Oh well." Pulling the hood of his jacket over his head, Jordan looked around for an open door. _

_Inside the narrow, cylindrical building he wandered into, a single, crumpled white flyer stood out from the painted wall._

_**----Flight Lessons! Flight Lessons! Flight Lessons!---**_

_**Plummeting Pteri? Lopsided Lenny? Dizzy Draik?**_

_**We can solve all your Neopet's flying problems!**_

_**Remedial lessons held once a week in Faerieland's pleasant surroundings. Charges are low and infrequent.**_

_**See downstairs for further details.**_

_Downstairs? Jordan glanced to his right. There was, indeed, a staircase, leading downward in a spiral. Those crazy Faeries must have built a basement beneath the clouds._

_He took a quick look down the stairs, but was unable to see the bottom. Shrugging, he began to descend anyhow, his footsteps fading until they could no longer be heard._


End file.
